Parking row thug jailed for attack on 79-year-old

A THUG who punched a pensioner to the ground in an unprovoked assault has been jailed for 22 weeks.

Lee Cairns and his daughter Kelly Lamb who got into a row with an elderly neighbour over parking

Lee Cairns, 43, struck 79-year-old Stan Roberts in the face in a row over parking in July last year.

Mr Roberts was attacked at the home of his ex-wife Yejide, in North Shields, Tyne and Wear, following a heated argument between Mrs Roberts, 38, and Cairns’s daughter Kelly Lamb, 23.

Maimuna Bappa, prosecuting at North Tyneside magistrates court, said: “There was an argument about where Yejinde had parked and it escalated outside the house.

“At this time the victim remained in the house – he is 79 and suffers from heart problems – but he observed that the dispute was getting out of hand.

“When he stepped out of the door, he saw the defendant running down the path to him, draw back his right fist and then punch him in the face. He was bleeding heavily from the nose and collapsed back in the house on the living room floor.”

Cairns, of Wallsend, dented trainee nurse Mrs Roberts’s car with a kick as he left.

Mr Roberts was taken to hospital by ambulance suffering cuts to his nose and cheek, bruising, damaged teeth, headaches and nosebleeds, but discharged himself early out of “fear for his ex-wife’s safety”.

The court heard that when police later tried to arrest Cairns, he responded aggressively, snatching a baton from one officer and only calming down when his mother intervened.

Richard Haswell, mitigating, said his client suffered from mental health issues and “behaved poorly” during the dispute. He added: “He thought his family was being threatened.”